‘Who likes fish? And I don’t mean fish fingers!’ Taste education, culinary capital, and distinction in a rural middle-class primary school

Earl, Lexi

Abstract

©, © University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. This paper explores how middle-class distinction is produced in a primary school by focusing on four different ‘scenes’. Using Bourdieu’s notion of distinction, this paper shows how children are educated on matters of middle-class taste. I argue that privilege is produced through food education in different formats. This taste education goes beyond what one should merely eat and consume. It is situated within a middle-class nostalgia for rural ‘villageness’. While this type of distinction is not in and of itself problematic, this paper discusses the implications for when these ideas are taken up in policy, and expected of all schools. I argue educators need to be aware of how these values are being rolled out as universal values, expected of schools in diverse areas. Educators should pay attention to how middle-class distinction and privilege is produced and reproduced in schools, in order to create a more inclusive food education.

Citation

Earl, L. (2019). ‘Who likes fish? And I don’t mean fish fingers!’ Taste education, culinary capital, and distinction in a rural middle-class primary school. Cambridge Journal of Education, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2019.1630366

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 6, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Jun 21, 2019
• Publication Date: Jun 21, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2019
• Journal: Cambridge Journal of Education
• Print ISSN: 0305-764X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-3577
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-17
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2019.1630366
• Keywords: Education
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2468698
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2019.1630366